Masked Emotions
by Xylacorabi
Summary: It's been months since Eliwood started the search for his father. As the members of his army traveled and lived together, hidden emotions start to surface...[ Eliwood x Ninian, Hector x Florina, etc ] [ edited and updated ]
1. ExN: Dance

Masked Emotions

_Chapter One: Dance E x N_

_Disclaimer_: I do not own Fire Emblem – if I did, Marcus would have died a horrible and gruesome death from the hands of Eliwood. >D

* * *

Eliwood sighed and drew his cloak around his shoulders as a chill wind picked up, ruffling his crimson hair. Disappointed that he wasn't able to find what he was looking for, he slowly made his way back to camp.

It was the beginning of autumn, and Eliwood's band took it upon themselves to give him a surprise party. Perhaps they had noticed how grim and serious (well, even more so than usual) he was nowadays, and wanted to cheer him up.

Eliwood did not know what was wrong with himself. He simply felt unhappy and empty inside, and as the days slowly passed by, he fell into a depression. He would sit in his tent for hours at a time, or take a quiet stroll alone through the words. Occasionally, Eliwood had the urge to scream at himself, but he always decided against it. Fat lot of good that'd do.

The sounds and laughter from the celebration drifted to Eliwood even before he caught sight of the camp, which was lighted with a surprising amount of torches and candles (Eliwood suspected Matthew and Legault may have something to do with it). Eliwood grimaced and shook his head; they ought to know better than to be so loud at such a dangerous time like this. What if the Black Fang picked up their trail?

All thoughts of reprimanding them vanished, however, when Eliwood realized how much they enjoyed this little surprise party. It was a break from the endless slaughtering they had to endure over the past few troubled months. Eliwood, lost in thought, slipped past the long, wooden tables filled with food (where Lowen and Rebecca were having a "feast"), the stables (where Sain was hitting on Fiora unsuccessfully: "Ah, my dear! You cut me deeply!"), and found himself standing in front of a makeshift stage (made from a bunch of large, wooden boards stacked together and crude "curtains" that looked suspiciously like Eliwood's blankets) on which Serra was standing. Hastily he found a seat and sat down.

"Kent," Eliwood whispered (so as not to disturb Serra's singing, horrible though it was) to the serious redhead sitting beside him. Kent started with a clank of armor and saluted Eliwood, earning himself a few stares from the audience and a glare from Erk.

"Lord Eliwood."

"What time is it?"

"It is half past nine, sir," Kent replied.

Eliwood took out his scroll of programs and squinted as he tried to read Nils's illegible writing. "Half past nine.. Oh no! Another half hour of Serra's singing! I think I shall go to sleep."

"Well, sir, you should stay – it's worth it. If you leave right now, you'll miss the next program, and it's the grand finale."

Eliwood peered down at his paper and narrowed his eyes at the parchment in order to read Nils' terrible writing. "At ten… Ninian's Dance… I'll stay," he decided, after a short pause.

The minutes passed by like hours, and when it was finally Ninian's turn, Serra refused to step down from the stage, saying that she still had two more songs to sing. The sight of Erk in a remote corner upon the stage with a threatening gleam in his eye was enough to discourage anyone who had thoughts of dragging Serra from the stage, and so everyone had to endure "two more" of Serra's songs. Eliwood found himself getting drowsy as Serra sang the second verse of "Elimine's Love", composed and written by Serra herself. By the time Serra had finished singing not two but six songs, Eliwood was already deep asleep.

And so it was that when Ninian went up the stage and peered at the audience, she found Eliwood snoring gently in the first row. Tears sprang, unbidden, to her eyes, but she willed herself not to cry. She had, after all, promised herself to be strong. And she would be strong, even if it meant ignoring the sleeping redhead - who she had decided to dedicated her dance to - in front of her for the rest of her life. Clearing her throat, Ninian announced, "I will dedicate the following dance to my brother, Nils, who has gone through so much with me." She began her dance amid the cheers and applause that followed, sadness gnawing at her heart.

Ninian had thought, from the first two real conversations they've had on the battlefield, that Eliwood considered her a good friend. He even hinted that they may be more than good friends when he asked her to dance for him. Ninian twirled, feeling hopeless. So Eliwood didn't think of her as a friend, after all. If he did, he would have stayed awake to watch her dance. But here he was, purring delicately in his slumber, oblivious to the great pain he just caused her.

Eliwood woke up just in time to see Ninian step off the stage, her head bowed. Eliwood immediately felt great guilt at having missed Ninian's dance. Then he wondered why he felt guilt at having missed her dance. A little sad, maybe, and disappointed… But guilt?

Then, with a pang, Eliwood realized that the source of his restlessness over the past few weeks was Ninian. Although Ninian had never asked him to, Eliwood had always looked after her, in a sense. He was sure that she had wanted him to see her dance. And he had let her down.

In the midst of the crowd, someone else was just as troubled as Eliwood. Nils watched Ninian walk back into her tent, knowing that she did not mean to dedicate the special dance to him.

* * *

A/N: This sucks so much. So uninteresting. Review, because this is my first fanfic.

This, by the way, is dedicated to mashounotenshi, who pestered me to dedicate a fanfic to her because I pestered her to write a story. O.o Your late birthday surprise, because I know how much you loved your presents.


	2. ExN: Sparring by the Lake

Masked Emotions

_Chapter Two: Sparring by the Lake E x N_

Disclaimer: The day Marcus suicides is the day I own Fire Emblem (yes, you can tell by now that I hate Marcus a lot, can't you?).

* * *

Eliwood sat on the bank of a delicate beauty of a lake as he gazed out upon its loveliness. The color of the lake was a soft, pleasant light blue, unlike the usual dark, nasty green shade (and who knows what's concealed beneath those disgusting lakes?). It looked like the color of Ninian's hair. Eliwood longed to touch the beautiful waters of the lake. The surface of the lake, however, was smooth as glass, and he felt it would be a great sin to disturb the waters' peaceful rest. His hand fell back reluctantly and he let it rest back down upon the bank.

Suddenly, Eliwood heard a rustle behind him. His hand strayed to the hilt of his rapier as he whirled around, expecting to encounter a band of bandits, or perhaps even members of the Black Fang. It was, however, only a tall woman dressed in a Sacaen tribe dress. Her long green ponytail whipped out, flung by the chilly wind that signified the beginning of autumn. Lyndis. Eliwood sat back down, evidently relieved.

"Relax, Eliwood!" Lyn said laughingly, having noticed the unusual strain in Eliwood's face. "It's just me. I have come to ask a favor of you!" At the word favor, Eliwood's ears perked up and he stood back up, alarmed.

"Y-you haven't came to ask me to teach you how to be a lady again now, have you?" Lyn had ambushed him several times in the past few days, begging him to teach her how to be a lady, and he couldn't afford to let his guard down. It was not like he didn't want to help her – Lyn was a great friend, and usually he would have done anything to assist her – it was just that, well, he, Eliwood, was a male… and what would he know about being a lady? (That was the slightly more noble reason. The other was simply because Hector had listened in on their conversation once and teased Eliwood endlessly about being a lady; Eliwood could not even begin to imagine how absolutely horrible Hector would make his life if Eliwood ever agreed to help Lyn "be a lady"!)

"Why, yes! How'd you guess?" Lyn asked, frowning.

"What!" Eliwood exclaimed, "I simply cannot –"

"Calm down, Eliwood!" Lyn laughed. "Can't you take a joke or two? You take life too seriously. Well, Eliwood, I was just thinking, we haven't sparred in a while now, and since I really have nothing better to do at the moment, I just thought I'd come look for you. So, would you care to spar with me?"

"Thank goodness you just want to train!" Eliwood said, sighing with relief. "Now that that you mentioned it, I do miss sparring with you. But it's only fair to warn you, I've gotten stronger over the last few battles."

"So have I, Eliwood! Don't you go easy on me!"

As they circled each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move, Eliwood made up his mind to, despite his promise, go easy on Lyn.

All thoughts of secretly giving Lyn some advantages vanished, however, when she charged at him with the ferocity of a tiger and swung the Mani Katti at his side. He just barely blocked the attack with his rapier, when Lyn attacked him again.

The fight continued on for quite a while, with Lyn attacking Eliwood and Eliwood parrying her every move. Then, in an unspoken agreement, they both slumped down on the grass, panting.

"There's something on your mind, Eliwood. I can tell," Lyn said after they've recuperated from the exhausting fight. "You've been doing more defense than offence today, you made very few attempts to attack me, and your blocking was unnaturally weak. It's not just today, either. You've been pretty unfocused for the past few weeks."

Eliwood didn't answer. He looked out at the lake once more as he toyed with a blade of grass. Something, or, rather, someone is on his mind... but should he burden Lyn with his personal problems? He didn't have time to answer, when Lyn interrupted him again.

"Eliwood… it's Ninian, isn't it? You're in love with her, aren't you?"

Startled, Eliwood tore his gaze away from the lake and turned to Lyn. "How did you guess?"

Lyn shrugged as she leaned back and fixed Eliwood with a stern gaze. "It's kind of obvious, really. But that's beyond the point. What's wrong with you!" she added angrily after a short pause, startling Eliwood, "If you like her that much, then go after her and tell her your true feelings! Don't let her slip out of your grasp! Let her know how you feel while you still have the chance, or you're going to regret it when she's gone! Stop bottling up your emotions beneath your mess of red hair and express yourself!"

Eliwood was shocked when he realized the truth of her words. She was right – it was now, or never. They were constantly in danger, and who knew where Ninian would be tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow?

"If you truly love her enough, you're going to let her know that, or I'll go tell Ninian myself," Lyn declared. With that said, she stalked off from the scene in a huff, leaving Eliwood behind to gaze out once more at the lake.

The lake reminded him of Ninian, beautiful and delicate.

* * *

A/N: This chapter is so random. And the ending line is lame beyond lame. At this point I would like to express my anger at Mashounotenshi and her "go-finish-your-fanfic-or-else" -ness. – sigh - Oh, and just to clear things up – this story will consist of many chapters and "short stories" of possible Fire Emblem 7 couples that show examples of "Masked Emotions". So, it's just not about Eliwood x Ninian. Um, yeah, just thought I'd mention that. Oo;; Now, before I go off, here's a short summary on the next chapter (which is of the humor genre) because it might take a while before I finish it. "Serra, the legendary chatterbox, has long been the Queen of Gossip. Now, Serra kept a very secret diary in which she recorded all of the things she found out.. what will happen when Nils finds that diary…?" 


	3. ExN: Serra's Diary

author's note.

Xylacorabi is a very lazy person.

So, she forced me to write this for her.

Yeah, ME! Mashou no Tenshi.

(Her best friend, by the way, who also has a not very good but worth reading Fire Emblem fic to review! Man, that was a shameless plug.)

So if the writing style is different, that's because I got an A+ in English and Xy just got an A. XP

Anyways, let's get on with this…

By the way, slight spoilers ahead. Not anything REALLY major, except for one in the second line of the story. Ahem.

Oh right. Disclaimer. I don't own anything related to Fire Emblem. And I don't own Isaac's scarf either. (You'll understand what I mean soon, only if you played Golden Sun.)

**m.a.s.k.e.d e.m.o.t.i.o.n.s **

chapter three: serra's diary

Nils loves his scarf.

He'd received it when he'd transformed into a human and had had it ever since. It had been with him through thick and thin, desert and rain, enemies and hugs from very fat women who thought he was "SUCH A CUTIE!". He never got it replaced, even when it was thin and raggedy and Ninian pointed out it didn't even keep him warm anymore.

That wasn't the point. The scarf wasn't just a scarf. In a way, the scarf was HIM, too.

But now, he had been separated from his precious, lovely golden scarf!

Because of that evil, annoying, obnoxious, shrill healer…_Serra_.

Yesterday, he'd been sitting at one of the many campfires, driven out of his tent by his unsavory roommate Vaida (of all people! She'd tried to kill him before, and now Eliwood had placed him with her…just his luck) and playing his flute. Then Serra had come by, fuming (most likely having had another argument with Erk), and had snarled, "Your stupid flutey music is getting on my nerves!" before yanking at his scarf and taking it with her.

Not only had he been half-strangled in the process, he'd lost his scarf!

His _beloved_, DELIGHTFUL scarf. (Well, actually it wasn't his. He'd stolen it from a boy of about seventeen with messy blonde hair and blue clothing, but that wasn't the point.)

He'd managed (barely) without it for a day, but enough was enough!

And so now Nils was going on a little trip into steal back what was rightfully his…

-x-

Luckily, the section that Serra's tent was in was quiet and a little deserted, due to the fact it was dinnertime when Nils decided to do his subterfuge. The only people that remained were Canas, who was studying a Resire tome by the fire, and Lucius, who sat beside him drawing a picture. Nils tiptoed past them and entered Serra's tent.

The talkative cleric shared it with the other healer: Priscilla, a troubadour, who was quiet and refined in comparison to her tentmate. Luckily she was also out, so Nils had the whole tent to himself.

One side of the tent was a disaster area, while the other was perfectly clean and tidy. Nils opted the disaster area first for search, seeing as it would most likely be Serra's; however, upon closer examination it became obvious that it was, surprisingly, not. Making the conclusion that Priscilla probably wasn't used to being neat (being a noble, after all; he'd overhead the healer and Raven talking), he treaded softly over to the spotless part of the tent.

Nothing of that side showed Serra's personality beyond the pink silk sheets covering her cot, her trademark blue crystal staff leaning on the wall, and a small handmirror propped up against the canvas. Nils checked under the blankets and, sure enough, there was his scarf.

It looked different. The holes in it had been patched over and the rips had been sewn together. Surely Serra couldn't have done it, Nils thought, blinking at the fine golden thread that bound the tears together. She always complained about doing any sort of menial work! And yet, there was a needle with gold filament through the hole lying on the cot.

"That's a side of Serra I've never seen," muttered Nils. And that was when he noticed the corner of something peeking out of her white pillowcase. Pulling it out, he discovered it was her diary; surprisingly plain and simple, with an uncomplicated white dot design and a grey flower upon the cover.

Nils' parents hadn't been around enough to teach him that many morals, and Ninian wasn't exactly the most patient teacher, either, so Nils' curiosity overcame his conscience as he picked it up and flipped it open to a random page covered with slanted, curling cursive.

_April. 04. 960._

_On the march again to who knows where._

_Lyn tripped today and her skirt when flying. Rath took a look, I'm sure of it._

_Eliwood didn't bother to brush his hair today. It looks even worse than usual._

_I think Erk has a crush on Priscilla…_

Twitching a little, Nils flipped again. The diary fell open to a page bookmarked by a slender silver-trimmed white ribbon near the middle of the book. All the pages after it were blank.

_September. 18. 960._

_I was taking a stroll by the lake when I heard Eliwood and Lyn talking._

_Lyn was reprimanding our _wonderful_ lord (sorry, sarcasm doesn't show up in words) about not being true about his feelings to…who else but…Ninian! I mean, honestly, everyone BUT Ninian and Eliwood know about their feelings for each other! Even Karel! And Sain! And Bartre! Anyways, Eliwood is finally going to pluck up the courage to tell Ninian that he loves her, apparently! _

_I'm looking forward to this. Hopefully, if Ninian and Eliwood get together, he'll finally find the sense to tidy his hair. And stop giving us stupid orders on the battlefield._

Nils stared at the creamy-colored page and the neat cursive. Of course, he already knew about Eliwood and Ninian's feelings for each other, but he hadn't known Eliwood would go as far to admit them! Could this be true?…

Most likely, he decided finally, shutting the book. Serra might be a gossip, but she only told rumors that were true. (For example: the fact that Louise was already pregnant, Raven's real name was Raymond, and – shock of all shocks! – dark, brooding Jaffar had some sort of deep affection for little Nino!) And in that case, he had to tell Ninian about this!

He stepped cautiously over to the tent flaps, peering outside; Lucius and Canas were still sitting at the fire, though now they were conversing lightly. Across from them sat Pent and Erk, probably discussing some magic matters. Otherwise, the coast was clear. Nils stepped silently from the tent and walked in the opposite direction, whistling nonchalantly and glancing behind him –

Only to trip and send the diary flying open to the latest entry…

In Farina's face, who had happened to be passing through the section. (The magic section was directly adjacent to the heavy infantry's section, and she had some matters to settle with Dart. _Money_ matters.)

"Eliwood's finally going to confess his feelings to Ninian!" she shrieked in surprise.

All the candles in the camp flicked on in unison so every tent lit up. From every tent flap poked out heads of Eliwood's Elite.

"_What_?" they all gasped.

"_What_?" Ninian gasped, dropping her sash in the dishwashing basin.

"That was my piece of gossip!" whined Serra from inside the dining hall. "Oh, right. _What_?"

tbc.

-x-

footnotes.

_one_. The boy with messy blonde hair and blue clothing is Isaac, from Golden Sun. He has a scarf too. –points-

_two_. Vaida did try to kill Nils, in that chapter where you had to survive a certain number of turns after seeing the scene in the secret gardens of Bern.

_three_. The Resire tome is a tome from Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi. You can't use it, but it pops up in some of the support conversations concerning Rei, Hugh, Lugh, and Niime. It is a dark magic tome though.

_four. _I'm trying to explore another side of Serra here. Look, no one can be THAT obnoxious unless they're pretending to be. Besides Tamaki. (Ya know, the guy from Ouran High School Host Club…)

_five_. You might recognize the blue crystal staff from a certain fantasy book series.

_six_. It is the year 960, isn't it? I'm not too sure. No matter.

_seven_. The comment about Eliwood's untidy hair is someone derived from Clarine's remark about Roy's equally messy hair in Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi. Mwaha.

_eight_. You might recognize the dates I used for the diary entries. Then again maybe not.

_nine_. Mark is non-existent. Eliwood is governing his own army by his own tactics.

another note.

yeah, so this chapter isn't really funny. TT I dun care. I did the best I could. Did I mention I'm at Xyla's house at the moment? Her little brother just told me that when you touch rolly pollies they roll up into balls. Thank you, Marco, for that fascinating bit of information. –sigh-

I end my chapters with people saying "What?" too much.

Meanwhile, why don't you review. It'll make me happy.

This is depressingly the longest chapter so far. And it's not even written by Xy.


End file.
